Automobile direction-indicator.



I. a. WRIGH'I. AUTOMOBILE DIRECTION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26. I911.

Patented Apr. 23, 1918.

1 man i rarer s:

THOMASB. warennbjrpnrcaeo, rumors, assreivoa'ro trnu'wnien'r rnArr-Ic' SIGNAL COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLnvoIs-a coaroaarron or ILLINOIS.

AU'IOMOIBILE- DIRECTION-INDICATOR.

To all whom-it may concern.

Be it known that I, THOMAS .B. VRIGHT, a cltizeirof-the United States of 'America,

and resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented a certainnew and useful Improvement in ,Autoinobile Direction- Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

'My invention relates todevices for indi-' cating the direction, of 'travel of an automobile.

Generally stated, the object of'my invention is to provide a novel and improved device of-this general character. Spec1alob ects are to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby ade vice of this kind can be applied to the ordinary lamp of an automobile, such as the usual tail light, so that the device" will serve the double purpose of direction-indicator and ordinary lamp; to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby the directionrindicator can be readily controlled by the person driving the machine; to provide an improved construction and arran ement whereby'a device of this kind can be installed on an automobile with comparatively little'expense; and to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby a device of this kind will be reliable and serviceable in use andjnot liable to get out of order.

It is also an objectto provide certain details andfeatures of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and 'serviceability of a directionindicator of this particular character.

To-the foregoing and other useful ends,

set forth and claimed. p

In the accompanying drawings.:'

' Figure 1 is a side elevation of an automobile (shown in dotted lines) equipped with my invention consists in matters hereinafter a direction-indicator embodying the princi iql es of my invention.

v ig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of said indicator.

Fig. 3. is a rear elevation of said indie cator.

Fig. {l isa perspective of the controller for said indicator, which is mounted on a steering-column of the machines As thus illustrated, the automobile A can be of any suitable, known or approved form or construction. At the rear end of the madaylight but which is sufficiently transparchine, the usual lamp or tail-light. suit I Specification bf Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 23, 1 911%, application filed February 26,1917. Serial No v i i v I i I ably secured in place thereon. Asteeringcolumn 0 is arrange il asusual at.the front of the machine; An indicator'D, embody ing the principles of my invention, is' atwire or cord d-with the controller E on the.

- steering column.

Said indicator, as shown'and described,

is constructed as follows: The metal. box 1 adjustable clips or clamping-devices 5 to engage the rim of the lamp. WVhen the box H 1 is secured in place upon the lamp, the in;

the entrance of dust or moisture.

the box there is. a support 6 for the central horizontal shaft'Z, which latter isprovided c at its rear end with a drum 8 for the'wire tQI'iOI' Of thebOX is Within or cord 0?, whereby said shaft can be rotatedQg' A clock-spring 9 is applied to said shaftto yieldingly resist rotation thereof from fits released at its forward. end.

said arrow being preferablyconstructed with a metal outline or frame which infcloses a sheet-ofred glass,"said frame having the shape of the arrow. A plate 'l'lof" white glass (glass which appears white cut to allow the light of the lamp to pass through) is secured within the box immedi'-" ately behind said arrow, so that the latter revolves in a practically dust-and-moisturetight chamber 12 at the rear of the box.

mediately in rear of the glass plate 11,'and? ,tliis disk 13 is provided with an. opening 14, which is directly opposite said arrow, and .-.which is exactly the same in shape and outline as said arrow, so that the lightis only" allowcd to pass through this opening and the red glass of the arrow. With this construction, the indicator by daylight shows a red or dark colored arrow on a white back ground,which is plainly visible to the occu-. pants of othermachi'ncs traveling inlrear. of the automobile on which this indicator metal disk 13 is secured'to theasliaft im is used. At nighttime-however, the indicatorwill show a red arrow on a'black back- 6'0 tached to said lamp and connected by a 80 normal positiomand to return the shaft to normal position when said Wire or" card" is .An arrow 10 is secured to the frontend of said shaft,f" "85 indicator, 'The' 'entireinterior of the box.

can be 'fini'shed'to serve as a. reflector, so

that the light will not be absorbed, but will be concentratedand projected throu h the olpenin l l'of the metal plate, an then 1: roug the lass lates and the arrow to roduce the as the arrow contrastssharply with the .whitebackground provided by the plate 11,

and is' plainly visible by daylight.

- The controller E may be'of anysuitable character.

-. of a metal box 6 having a curved slot formed with notches 16, '17, 18 and 19, which flatte'r'provide four positions for the'pivoted 0 the automobile. '26

lever 20 by which the indicator is controlled. This lever is inclosed within said box, and connected in any suitable manner with the wire. or cord d, whereby the latter'can be 0 erated to control the indicator atthe rear With the lever in the. notch 16,. he arrowis in the position shown in, Fig. 3,- which indicates that the automo bile is going ahead. When the lever is pulled down to thenotch 17, the arrow is rotated until its point'occupies a position at 21,'which indicates that the machine is go- .ing to turn to the right. -When the lever enages the notch 18, the arrow is upsideown, with its oint at the position indicated' at 22, indicating that themachine is preparing to stop or reverse its forward When the lever is moved into engagement with the notch 19, the point 'of the arrow then-occupies the position indicated at 2.3, which means that the machine" willturn to the left. In this way, the controller has four positions, and the indicator at the rear is operated accordingly, thereby indicating to the occupants of other'machines whether the machine with the-indicator isgoing to turn to the right or to the left, or continue ahead or slow up and reverse its movement. The spring 9, it will.

be understood, is strong enou h to always return the arrow to its normzI position, as shown ,in Fig. 3, and to return the lever 20 tothe notch 16 when releasedfrom any of' the other notches.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the ind'cator and the controller therefor can be chea ly manufactured, and can be easily and conveniently applied to any automobile, with comparativelylittleexpense. If necessh'ry or desirable, small sheaves 24 and 25 can be provided at the front of the machine to guide the wire or cord d, and to facilitate viously, however, thesaid.- controller can be mounted in any convenient place on themachine, and .is not necessarily supported by the steering-column. fin red splitcolesire ,elfect; Of course, the ight 1s not'necessary during the day-time,-

As shown, however,- it "consists n'al and a direction-indicator.

'struction shown and described;

. and described.

It will be seen that'thesupport 6 is inthe form of a spider which has its outer ends secured to the interior of the box-by the screws F by which the'plate3, which is shaped like a cover, is held in place. In this way, said screws perform the double function of holding said plate or cover in position, and of holding the spider-shaped supportor bearing support the shaft.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the disk 14 can be-omitted, if desired, and in such case? the arrow will appear dark 'on' a luminous background at night. Or, if desired, the glass plate 11 can be omitted, and the surface of the metal disk 13 can .be painted white to take the place of said glass plateyfl I a It will also be understood, of course, that the arrow can be made not only'of red glass, but also. of red translucent material of any kind,-such as celluloid or other similar materials. This is also true of the glass plates,

'as instead of glass for the white plate and the transparent plate celluloid can be employcdfor this purpose, or any other translucent and transparent materials.

takable indication of direction. Thus, the

two things are combined in one device, and when combined with a controller having a means to operate the indicator at will, the structure serves the double function of lamp and directiomindicator, for the arrow, which is bright red indaylight, and also\at night, is recognized at once as being a danger-sig- Moreover, at night if the lamp goes out the arrow will ,still appear 'red a must a white background whenever the head-lights of other machines 12 10 are flashed thereon or when the s 'e'et-lamps shine on the device,so that practically underall conditions the device will serve the double purpose for which it is intended. I do not limit myself to the exact con- 7 What I claim as my'inventionis:-+-

In a device for the purpose described,

a rotarymember of arrow shape and of red translucent materialto serve-as a direction- 18a 6 in position to properly 80 ,pear. redI against a conti asting background in day-'time and also at night, means to SHPW port saidbackground an arrow in front of iiaeaeee indicator and danger-signal for'automobiles,'

a background for said. arrow,

a lamp behind said background, so' that said arrow. will aptranslucent inateriaLand said device having .a casing provided-with a. t 'ansparent front plate, to thereby form a tight'com artment between said plates for said arrow. v I

3. Thestrnc'ture of claim-1, as stated,;in

' whih salol background has a white'surface', and said arrow ared surface, whereby .at

of other automobiles and the street-lamps ground.

r i 7 20th day of Februaryg'liifl. jnight ifsaicl'lamp' goes out the head-lights I that shine on said ole vicewiil cause said ax i ed v against v a, v hite back row to appear.

- 4. The structure of claiin 1, stated; said fromwhieh it is rotatable in'onedlirebtion only, andthre'seotherositiomi-i'to indicate that the automobile will turn to the might or to the left or will stop, said devices in:

cluding means to rotate said arrow backward to normal position.

arrow having a normal upright position" 7 member and backgroundfahol means being detachable so that said lamp can be used .alone' Signed by me at" Chicago; Illinois, this :35

w" 5. The-structure of clanh 1,as stated, sa1 l 

